Vital Signs: Choosing Custom Signage for Indoor or Outdoor Use

Pliable yet rigid, custom Cardstock Signs are ideal for presentations and temporary event signage. In a variety of thicknesses, this recyclable coated substrate stands easily against an easel to showcase promo details or product features.

You can even print your own signs to hang on a wall with convenient adhesive options or use our Custom Quote feature to request scoring and folding to create custom packaging.

Customer Brian had this to say in his five-star review:
“Awesome value. Smartpress presents great value in everything they do. The Cardstock Signs they did for me were high-quality, quick-turn posters that were BEAUTIFUL! I’ll do more of these with them.”

Doing your sign printing with Smartpress means you have a plethora of options – including biodegradable ones. An eco-friendly alternative to foam board, durable and rigid Honeycomb Cardboard Signs feature white cardstock with a Kraft honeycomb core.

Also known as falconboard signs, they’re ideal for retail and POP displays and are extremely lightweight (you can easily carry them to exhibits and trade shows). Finish yours with drill holes or adhesives to install wherever you’d like.

Printing your custom signs online doesn’t have to break your budget. Our Foam Board Signs are one of the most affordable substrate choices and make your short-term signage shine. Also known as foamcore, they’re an excellent option for presentation visual aids and event advertising.

Foam board printing features a smooth cardstock surface with a foam center, making this custom signage not only economical, but also lightweight. Give yours a professional finish with installation options like drill holes, double-winged easels and adhesives.

“Great job,” said customer Katy, giving Foam Board Signs five stars. “They even cut it out in a perfect circle for me!”

Design Tip: Like Katy’s signs, yours can also be cut in any shape. Our online printing services include simple and complex die cuts in circles, ovals, stars, even your brand logo.

What’s the leading custom signage choice for retail and restaurants? Meet our Styrene Signs. Smartpress is the only online printer you need to create styrene signage that wows customers and clients with vibrant, detailed print.

Also known as polystyrene, these signs elevate your advertisements with a sleek surface, slim construction and thickness options to suit your needs.

Sarah Vega of CTCMedia, an outreach ministry of Commitment Church, loved their professional appearance and adaptability:

“Each sign is a graphic for our sermon series [and] we have an art gallery where we display [them] for the year,” Vega said. “It’s lightweight and exhibits the design and colors of the graphics very well. It truly is a versatile material that allows us to use [it] in multiple places.”

Get customers in high-traffic areas to halt with custom Polystyrene Foam Signs. Also known as Gatorplast, these signs are thicker and more expensive than styrene. Featuring foam between polystyrene sheets, they create a sturdy look and feel that flexes just enough.

Strong and scratch-resistant, you’ll love these for retail or office signage and presentations of any kind.

Design yours for online printing with black or white substrates, and complete your sign situation with easels and effortless mounting options.

For Haley Bugelli, founder and creative director at Old Sol Supply, polystyrene foam was the ultimate solution. “[It] was very durable, lightweight and had a nice finish for the print,” she said.

Your marketing and branding truly come alive with custom Backlit Signs. For use with your existing lightbox, a backlit sign board makes graphics, logos and messaging shine, illuminating each color brilliantly. Don’t have a lightbox already? We can help you get one through a Custom Quote.

Great for retail windows, POP displays and menu boards, they can be designed in any shape and size (just be sure to know your lightbox dimensions for the perfect fit). And while they spotlight your brand or products indoors, they can also be used outdoors if your lightbox is weather-resistant.

Customer John had a glowing five-star experience: “Awesome team to work with! [They were] extremely helpful, made certain my files were at the proper resolution for maximum potential, and completed my order in great time. All of our signs look beautiful with the backlighting [and] we’ve had numerous compliments from our customers.”

When it comes to hassle-free signage, this is it. Free-Standing Signs with Holders create a big impact with little work, thanks to a seamless all-in-one presentation. Ideal for table or floor displays, they offer durability and convenient portability for trade shows, conferences, events and visual retail merchandising.

The included standing sign holder is compatible with signs of various sizes, so you can switch out signage as needed – and all without tools or hardware.

Designed for indoor use, this custom signage can be used temporarily outdoors (but we do not recommend storing them in outdoor spaces).

Design Tip: Many of our signs offer double-sided printing. Design yours to double the impact of your advertisements or promote different products, events or services on each side. Simply select one-sided or two-sided from the Sides dropdown on the product pages.

Whether you’re going for a rustic look or modern vintage feel, Aluminum Signs don’t disappoint. These custom metal signs feature a solid weather-resistant plastic core between white-painted aluminum sheets. The result? Our longest-lasting material for outdoor use.

Great for parking and real estate signs, plus business branding and logos, our aluminum sign printing can be completed with drill holes and adhesive options for quick installation.

Customer Chris had a five-star metal sign printing experience:
“[They’re] very professional looking. We got these printed with our different vendor company logos. They turned out great, and the support team made sure the process was easy and of the highest quality. I will definitely order these again.”

Making a professional marketing statement is simple with Clear Acrylic Signs. Great for both indoor and outdoor use, custom acrylic signs give your messaging and brand logos a high-end look that’s glossy and beautifully glass-like.

Printed on one side with a second printed surface where artwork can show from behind, their rigidity and thickness makes them a sophisticated option for name plates outside offices and conference rooms. Add yours to any space with optional aluminum standoffs for permanent wall signage.

“I chose to do an acrylic sign to add more of a creative, sophisticated, modern look to the interior of one of our tenant buildings,” said Maylin Jacobo of the Ratkovich Company. “Adding creativity to signage can make a huge difference in the aesthetics.”

Thinner, more lightweight and five times stronger than acrylic, our Clear Signs are made of PETG that also offers durability and affordability. These custom plastic signs make great additions to high-traffic areas, as a protective lining for your POP displays or seasonal promotional signage.

Rigid with just enough pliability, they’re printed on one side with a second printed surface that can show your artwork from behind. Try them in a window display or add drill holes to install on a wall.

Design Tip: Have an existing sign that’s missing hardware? Want to display a sign from the ceiling instead of on a wall? Browse our sign hardware and accessories to keep essentials and extras stocked.

Custom Corrugated Plastic Signs give you the same look and feel of classic lawn signs, just without the H-stakes. Also known as coroplast signs, their lightweight, waterproof fluted plastic construction ensures they stand up to the elements when promoting your business or directing people to and from events.

A great replacement for A-frame signs, these corrugated signs offer drill holes and adhesive options for easy installation inside or out. Take it from customer April: “Great product [and] nice price. [We] used these signs when we reconfigured our church lobby to give clear direction,” she said in her five-star review. “Great quality!”

Inside or outside, PVC Foam Signs ensure your marketing messages last. Standing up to harsh weather and UV rays, PVC foam board makes a great addition to your outdoor business signage. More lightweight than aluminum, custom PVC signs offer durable rigidity while showcasing vibrant print and designs.

Choose between black or white substrates and drill holes, easels or adhesives, and personalize your sign for presentations, storefronts and more.

Design Tip: Our Versions feature is available on all of our custom signage, letting you print various designs to differ content on multiple signs (just be sure your signs have the same size and finish). Create multiple signs in one order to save time and stick to your budget.

No signage stops customers in their tracks like A-Frame Sidewalk Signs. With two printed signs inserted into a plastic Signicade® stand, A-frame signs are your one-stop shop for marketing. You’ll love these sandwich board signs for displaying menu items and promotions or announcing new products and services.

Customize all you like with a black or white stand and printed sign substrate options. When you’re ready to display, simply unfold the weather-resistant stand, and fill it with sand or water for stability. Michael Fulkerson, marketing and communications director for Tulane Dining Services by Sodexo, used A-frames to draw attention to new store locations.

“Not only are the signs gorgeous and fit the modern stylings of the building, but also easy to deploy and place wherever needed,” Fulkerson said. “The look and feel [is] absolutely stunning, and Smartpress is always able to turn around signs in a matter of days. This is what keeps me coming back for my online signage needs.”

Design Tip: For A-frame replacement signs, simply order your substrate of choice (either Corrugated Plastic Signs or Styrene Signs) with dimensions measuring 24-1/2″W x 36”H.

A simple essential for your outdoor marketing? Custom Yard Signs. Whether placed outside your business or throughout your community to promote specials and products, or in your own front yard to celebrate birthdays and graduations, lawn signs easily grab attention.

Yard sign printing with Smartpress means your message and imagery stands out in full color, as the fluted corrugated plastic stands up to weather and doesn’t fade in the sun. As a premium online printer, we make installation easy with a range of H-stake options to match your sign.

Customer Alyson saw an immediate ROI with hers. “Our restaurant pop-up is doing twice the business since putting these signs up around town,” she said in her five-star review, appreciating our “simple ordering process, fast production, amazing quality, great design guidelines [and] competitive pricing.”

Hint: Get more custom signage inspo:

• • Custom Signs: 10 Substates to Intrigue, Inform and Wow
  • Glossy & Glass-like: The Wow Factor of Clear Acrylic Signs